Personal Interests
by KoloheSanji
Summary: WARNING: Ahoy! FOUL LANGUAGE ahead! And, this story is yaoi.ish! This was inspired by Vampire.Otaku1's wonderful story, Unrequited Interest. Please read that story first! What happens after Zoro violently refuses Sanji's advances...
1. Aftermaths

**Author's Notes:** First and foremost, let me say a very big** THANK YOU VERY MUCH** to **Vampire-Otaku1**...whom without, this story would NOT be in existence at all!!! This story was inspired by her wonderful **"Unrequited Interest"** (if you haven't read it, please go back and read it BEFORE reading this!!!)

After reading that story, the characters would not shut up! They just kept it up until I had to write down what they were telling me...

**THANK YOU VERY MUCH, VAMPIRE-OTAKU1!!!**

Also, I do not own any of these characters!!! They all belong to the great Eiichiro Oda!!! I'm just using, and abusing, them... (ducking kicks and sword swings). For the sake of the story!

**WARNING: Ahoy, FOUL LANGUAGE ahead!!! You have thus been warned!!!**

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**Chapter 1: _Aftermaths_**

One moment of weakness. One moment of letting his guard down, and he had kissed the one man on the entire ship who was the least likely to understand...and would be the most likely to kill him.

Sanji's mind flooded with horrible images of what he had seen in his lifetime.

Male pirates who had come to work on the Baratie, who had made unwanted advances towards other male cooks. The angry looks. The stares. The suspicion that was cast on their every word and actions...until the inevitable. They would disappear. Whether it was on an outgoing ship, or overboard, he didn't know. However, it was dangerous in the world of pirates and marines to express such feelings towards another man...

And now, Sanji had pissed-off the one man on the ship who could probably kill him right where he stood.

_Shit_, thought Sanji to himself as his trembling fingers lit a cigarette that he had placed between his lips.

_How could he have allowed himself to lose control of his feelings? How could he have been so stupid to have misread Zoro's angry barbs and actions as some type of affection for him? And, how could he now stay on the Going Merry with the rumors and side-glances that would undoubtedly start now that he had kissed Zoro._

Placing a hand over his eyes, Sanji felt the tears start to well up.

_"FUCK!!!_" He thought. "_It's all over now. I'll have to find another crew. Another way to reach All Blue."_

And then a dreadful thought hit him.

_"What if word leaked out about what he had done? Even if he did find another crew, would they react like Zoro?"_

As he felt his dreams crumbling into oblivion around him, Sanji wept.

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Zoro, still shaking from the fury that was still boiling in his veins, swung the weights before him as if he were twirling a chopstick.

"Fucking Cook," he quietly swore to himself, "fucking pervert...fucking son-of-a-bitch!!!"

It was true, Zoro thought to himself, he HAD on a few occasions been struck by the coy glances that the cook had thrown his way, and how his graceful and slender frame had caught his attention whenever he fought against his opponents. Or, how the blonde's agile body could contort himself into all sorts of positions...

"BAKA!!!" Shouted Zoro as the speed of his swings grew faster, and the directions of his aim more careless. "Fucking Cook!!!"

"Watch what you're doing!" Yelled Nami as the weights barely missed her head by a few centimeters.

Realizing how close he had come to harming one of his nakama, Zoro froze and put the weights back down on the ship's deck.

"I didn't see you there," came Zoro's awkward substitute for an apology.

"Well, it's lucky that I saw you," Nami replied, still a bit miffed at the near miss, "otherwise, I'd be unconscious, and the rest of you would be aimlessly drifting around in this ocean."

Zoro didn't respond, still caught up in his mind with his angry tirade at Sanji. Sensing something wrong with the green haired swordsman, Nami tried to catch his attention.

"Zoro?" No response. "Zoro?!" Finally the man looked at her, "What's wrong?"

Still seething, the swordsman spat out a sharp, "Your fricking Ero-Kokku kissed me!!!"

"And?"

Zoro was slightly taken aback by Nami's question. However, he quickly regained his composure...

"'And?' He's a fucking pervert!!!"

"Because he kissed you?"

"Yes!!!"

"Because he finally got up enough courage to show how he's felt about you all this time?"

"What?!?"

"Because, despite his being raised around pirates and knowing how violent SOME of them can be when another male shows interest in them...He still went ahead and showed his feelings for you?"

"I...oh...BUT I'M NOT...I don't..."

"Zoro," Nami quietly spoke, looking directly into the green-haired man's eyes, "I don't know how you REALLY feel about Sanji. However, I know how much courage it would have taken him to show you how he felt. If the pirates he grew up with are anything like those that I..." Nami swallowed as she seemed to remember something from her past, "I KNOW the amount of fear that he must have had about showing you how he felt. I just hope that you didn't do anything stupid."

Then, quickly turning, the orange-haired navigator walked off.

Left with only Nami's sobering words echoing in his brain, the confused swordsman could only utter one word.

"Fuck..."

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Rushing through the kitchen door, Luffy hopped up on the table and started lunch-time with his familiar wail.

"Sanji, I'm hungry!!!"

However, this time the blonde figure didn't move. His head still resting on the table, as if it's owner was just taking an afternoon nap.

"Sanji, I'm HUNGRY!!!" Came a plaintive cry from Luffy, as he started to shake the other man's shoulder. "Wake up, Sanji!!!"

Instead of waking up, the blonde cook's body shifted, slumping down to the floor.

"SANJI!!!" Yelled Luffy, his shout reverberating throughout the ship.

Sanji lay on the floor, next to a puddle of blood that had accumulated underneath the kitchen table. His eyes half closed, face and hands ashen and pale. Only the faintest rise and fall of his chest gave evidence that somewhere in that shell, someone was still in residence of that body.

Luckily, the first to arrive after hearing Luffy's scream was Chopper. Quickly accessing the situation, the reindeer rushed out to retrieve his surgical equipment, as he left it to Luffy and the rest of the crew, who arrived one after another, to lift the bleeding man onto the kitchen table.

Zoro was the last member of the crew to arrive. Seeing the cook lying on the table, blood still slowly pulsating from a sliced open wrist, he could only once more utter that word that he had been saying so many times today.

"Fuck..."

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**Author's (Chapter) Ending Notes:** I hope you guys liked this. (And, I especially hope that Vampire-Otaku1 liked it!) Mahalo and Aloha!


	2. Falling Pieces

**Author's Note:** Is anyone out there? (Chirping of cricket wings) Okay...

Once more, a big THANK YOU to Vampire-Otaku1 for creating the original "Unrequited Interest."

And a THANK YOU to Verum! (Thank you for the review!)

Now, back to the story...

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**Chapter 2: _Falling Pieces_**

"NO!!!" The anguished scream tore through the night, waking up every crew member of the Going Merry. "No, no, no, no, no...Please, God, NO!!!"

Chopper rushed into the men's quarters to find the blonde cook awake, weighed down to the floor by the green haired swordsman and their resident sniper.

"Sanji, you've got to stop," screeched Ussop, as he tried to stop the struggling man from tearing at the stitches holding his wrist closed. "You've already lost too much blood!"

"Let me go!!!" Screamed Sanji, wildly trying to buck the two men off.

"Hold him still," ordered Chopper as he prepared a syringe and plunged the needle into one of the cook's restrained arms.

After a few more minutes of thrashing about, Sanji began to slow down and relax.

"Just let me go," Sanji's voice started to slur as he succumbed to Chopper's sedatives. His lone right eye focusing on the eyes of the green haired man holding him down, "I'm dead anyway...just finish it."

Zoro's eyes quickly shifted away from the blonde's, and narrowed in on some point on the floor.

Eyes filled with pain, the cook looked up towards the ceiling, as tears began to well-up and spill down the side of his face. As he began to lose consciousness, Sanji could only mutter, "...it doesn't matter...nothing matters..."

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"Sanji?"

The voice sounded soft and muddled, but the cook knew who had spoken those words.

"Nami-swan?" Too tired to give Nami his usual proper welcome of heart-filled looks and honey-sweet calls, he simply smiled at the beautiful orange-haired navigator. "My beautiful Nami-swan, I'm so sorry that you must see me like this. Perhaps I should get up and cook you something to eat?"

The navigator placed a hand on the cook's chest and gently pushed him back down on the bed.

"No, I'm fine." Stated Nami in a soothing voice, "I just came here to talk to you."

"Oh?" Asked Sanji, "if it's about what happened...it was just a stupid accident..."

"Zoro told me what happened."

The cook's expression seemed to deflate immediately, and he fell completely quiet. "So, everyone knows..."

"No. Just you, me and Zoro...and that's the way it will stay..."

The blonde looked up at Nami. "But...what happened in the kitchen...how?"

Smiling, the navigator answered, "Actually, it was Zoro's idea. He told Luffy that you probably cut your wrist by accident, and seeing your valuable hand damaged, you 'lost it'--so to speak. You simply thought your days as a chef was over..."

"And they bought it?"

"It's Luffy."

"And Chopper?"

"He thinks you were delusional after you lost all that blood."

"And Ussop?"

"Well, he started to ask questions...until Zoro got upset and threatened to give him another hole in his head to talk through."

After a long bout of silence, the cook asked, "And, Zoro?"

Nami looked away for a moment, then back to Sanji. "He's still...He's still 'processing' what happened. Give him some time. It's not easy for someone who was on his own for so long, to react properly when someone finally shows interest in him. Especially someone so handsome..."

"Nami-swan is so kind and sweet..." Sanji stated, taking a gentle grip on the beautiful navigator's hand.

Nami smiled and lowered her forehead to Sanji's, in many ways they were a lot alike. They had been raised in similar worlds, and had seen so many horrors in their lives. And both understood that they would be there for each other, no matter what laid ahead.

"And Sanji?"

"Yes, Nami-swan?"

"If you ever scare me like that again, I will kick your ass from here to the next world."

"Yes, Nami-swan..."

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**Author's note:** I'm sorry, I know I could probably drag the story out. However, I like them short and sweet. (It's not over, yet!) The finale will be coming up shortly...but not quite yet. LOL!!! Aloha!


	3. Decisions

**Author's Notes:** Wow! Well, this part is done. (I say 'this part' because curiously, another thread began to appear as this story ended. And, if time is kind, I may decide to follow those voices). However, like I said, this part is done! And yes, it's 'yaoi-ish'--it just came out that way. Sorry, for those who wanted a full-blown YAOI story...

Once more, THANK YOU VERY MUCH to Vampire-Otaku1, for whom this story would not have come about without her. (I really do hope that you liked this! And that you aren't cringing and cursing over how this story went...if you are, I'm so sorry!)

Also, THANK YOU VERY MUCH to Verum (who replied to both chapters!) and Lady Geuna!!! (Yeah, I noticed that some writers tend to turn Nami into some type of 'wicked witch' personality. She may have her edges, but she's not THAT bad. However, writers will write...right? LOL!!!)

AND, ONE VERY BIG THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO EIICHIRO ODA!!! He created "One Piece," and without him this whole "One Piece" universe wouldn't even be here. So, **THANK YOU, MR. ODA!!!**

Well, onto the final episode (oops, I mean chapter)...

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**Chapter 3: _Decisions_**

For the past week, the Ero-Kokku had been anything but his usual 'Love Cook' self, and while most of the crew thought it was because of the injury to his hand, Nami knew better. Therefore, when the Going Merry pulled into a port to pick up some supplies, the navigator asked the captain and the sniper to go. While it wasn't the best choice of people to send, the orange-haired navigator needed to talk to Zoro without extra sets of ears listening in.

As for Chopper, after the last 'accident' he was also in desperate need of his own medicinal supplies, and had already told Nami that he needed to go ashore.

After Luffy, Ussop and Chopper were well on their way, and Sanji was hard at work preparing lunch, Nami walked over to the sleeping swordsman and gently nudged him awake.

"So, you've finally come around to talk to me? Hmmm? Ero-Kokku?..." Zoro finally opened his eyes to see the navigators' bare legs in front of him. "Oh..."

Crouching down to his eye-level, the navigator started to speak in a quiet voice. "Zoro, YOU need to talk to Sanji..."

"Why?" Snapped Zoro as he closed his eyes, "For the first time since he joined the crew, I actually can sleep as long as I like."

"Zoro, soon the others are going to notice...and when that happens."

"If something is wrong, let him come talk to me."

"Yes, and we all know how well that ended..."

"TALK to me...not KISS me."

After a long moment of silence, Zoro opened his eyes to see a troubled look on Nami's face, as she seemed to be debating if she should tell him something.

"What?" Questioned the swordsman.

"There once was an addition to 'Arlong's crew'...long ago. Unlike most of the crew, he was a nice guy...treated me much better than the others. Anyway, he really became attached to Choo, and one day he told him how he felt and tried to kiss him. The next day," Nami's eyes began to fill with tears, "Arlong had him gutted and beheaded in front of the rest of the crew..."

The green-haired swordsman quietly watched, unable to think of the right words to comfort the orange-haired navigator.

Wiping the tears from her eyes and regaining her composure, Nami continued. "I just want you to understand what Sanji must have gone through, and how hard it must have been for him to show you how he felt."

"But Nami...I can't..." Zoro began to argue.

"All I'm asking you to do is talk to him. Let him know how you feel. That's all anyone could ask for."

As Nami stood up and walked away, Zoro was left with his own quiet thoughts. Especially one thought that kept reverberating in his head...

_"How do I feel?"_

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The blonde cook continued to stare off into the distance, watching the vast emptiness of the ocean before him.

"I hope you aren't planning on jumping," came the soft statement from the green haired swordsman, as he took a place next to the cook at the ship's railing.

Receiving no response or acknowledgment of his presence, Zoro mulled over the silence before continuing to speak.

"I'm sorry...for my bad reaction to your kiss..."

While the blonde made no movement, the swordsman saw a slight waiver in the cook's visible eye. He was listening.

"I understand now how much it took for you to do what you did...but..."

Zoro watched as the cook tightened his grip on the railing.

"I can't return your feelings."

It hurt Zoro to watch as the cook's eye close and as a pained expression seemed to grow across the other man's face, but this is the way it had to be. This was for the best, for everyone.

"If I'm going to be the World's Greatest Swordsman, I can't allow anything to get in the way..."

Sanji's head dropped and turned away from Zoro's line of sight. Zoro reached out to try to turn the cook back around, but then thought better of that and let his arm fall back down to his side.

"It doesn't matter that you aren't a woman. It's just that I have a dream to fulfill, and that requires all my concentration and effort..."

The blonde head nodded slowly.

"But I will always care for you...as my friend...and nakama..."

Zoro allowed the words to sink in to his friend, before placing a hand on the cook's shoulder and slowly turning him around. The visible right-eye of the cook was red, his cheeks streaked with the path of many spent tears, and his face seemed to be flushed with embarrassment at the thought of being seen in such a fragile state.

Encircling the other man's slender frame in his muscular arms, Zoro gave Sanji a tight embrace.

While they may never be lovers, they were something much more than that. They were Nakama.

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**Author's note: ** SORRY, EVERYONE!!! I tried to think of an ending that felt 'right,' and it just kept coming back to this. For those who stuck around for the ending...THANK YOU!!! I really do hope you enjoyed the story! Please let me know if you liked this, or even if you didn't like it...any input is good input. Mahalo and Aloha!!!


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